If being frugal is a good thing, then I would like to think I am frugal as opposed to a cheapskate. Status considerations aren’t important to me. I think a Rolex and Patek Phillipe are fantastic watches, but would never buy one. My Seiko (which I think was expensive enough) keeps time just fine. I’ve always leaned towards economy brands/models. It is just part of my DNA. Like most my age, I grew up learning the value of a dollar from parents that lived through the great depression.

When it comes to fishing gear, I naturally drift towards the economy end of the manufacturer’s lineup. I have a Shimano Sienna. My rods have pretty much been Ugly Stiks. I know there are superior set ups. Up to now, I just haven’t been able to convince myself that a Stradic/G. Loomis set-up would be $400 worth of superior. I don’t think I’ve ever lost a fish due to my gear. The problem is I have never actually used higher end equipment, so can’t really make a valid first hand comparison.

Which brings me to the first point of all of this blathering. I had an opportunity a few days ago to use a friend’s gear tossing lures at salmon. The set up was an 8 ½’ Lamiglas graphite rod with a Shimano Calcutta reel. It was spooled up with 12# mono. I was lucky enough to land a salmon on this gear. All I can say is WOW. I really liked the set up. Best way I can describe it is everything is smoother. As an aside, casting a level wind is kind of like driving a stick shift. It came back to me quickly.

I think I will be picking up gear so I can do more salmon fishing in the river. When I got home I was telling my wife how great our friend’s gear is. She says I should upgrade. So I went on line to look at Lamiglas rods. Then I see that Ugly Stik has a salmon/steelhead rod . . . . . . . . . sigh.

I guess a final upshot would be feedback here is valuable to guys like me. My next spinning reel will likely be a Pfleuger President because of recommendations made here. I hope you guys will continue to share your recommendations.

I owned lots of the higher end stuff in a previous life. Through a hook-up with discounts on St Croix rods (and reels at the time), my collection was mostly that. I didn't have my reel choice narrowed down to anything in particular at the time, but most of them were $200+, from Shimano, Diawa, Abu Garcia. I didn't do as much fishing back then as I do now. I've learned that I like certain length rods and certain action in the tip. As my St Croix stuff got old and I repeatedly used the same one or two rods that fit my preference, I began to get more that suited me. I liked the action of the St Croix rods so used that as a starting point for what I would pick. Surprisingly, I found that the Berkley Cherrywood HD, available from Wal Mart, met my needs. I was very leery about such a cheap price tag, but at only $20 I thought it was a safe experiment. I've since found the Cabela's Pro Guide rods are great for me too. Now we're talking rods under $50, and I've accumulated 5 or 6 of each of those two brands and have sold all of my old "high end" stuff. I catch more fish now than I ever have, and don't worry about my gear so much as it's inexpensive to replace. I like the Pflueger President, President LE, President XT, and Summit XT spinning reels (all under $60 when on sale), and the Abu Garcia Silver Max baitcasters at $50 each. It was a happy day for me when I sold my Shimano Curado reels and still got over $100 for them on the used market - went and bought more "low end" Abus. Now every time I see a St Croix or another brand rod that has a $200+ price tag I chuckle a little bit in my head. It's a stick with line attached to it. Kind of a silly thought that a person would pay so much for...a stick.

Larry, I'm a LOT like you, as a matter of fact, reading your post I had to check to make sure I didn't write it some time ago

Sometimes you get what you pay for in quality of a "logo tax" sometimes not. I have several vices, guitars, firearms, motorcycles and fishing all of them can be entry points for getting hooked on the "logo tax". I also have no insecurity to feed by taking pix of LMB's with a Shimano Stella.

My Shimano Sienna and ugly stick catch a lot of fish, FAR more than my Stradic because the Stradic has not proven to be worth the money and stays home. Is it smooth? sure the Stradic IS smooth but the fish don't care that the Sienna is a bit less smooth. My stainless Taurus PT92 is every bit (and better in finish) as good as my stainless Italian Beretta 92, I have some Asian copies of my American made status brand guitars that are superior in reliability and fit / finish, and my 35 year old Seiko watch has never broken, while my genuine Rolex (a 40th birthday gift) has been back to "R" inc. for repairs in New York twice.

OTOH, in salt water expecting to be 30+ miles offshore I only took my Penn Internationals and custom made IGFA rods, nothing else ever interested me enough to even look at another brand, and my Minn Kota trolling motor was bought without even a glance at other brands on the racks at local fishing supply stores, and some of my logo brand shirts wash better, feel better, look better on, and last longer than $12 shirts at Target.

Do I own some "top" name brand stuff? Sure, otherwise I'd be on shaky ground stating an opinion, but I do have preferences because I am fortunate enough to have or have had logo tax stuff for a comparison.

As far as spinners go, it's hard to justify in my mind another high end Shimano, at best they may in the near future get me to buy an eighty dollar Sahara. Is judging their whole line based on a sample of one fair? Yes, yes it is when my over $200 Stradic Ci4+ 2500 RA sits in a closet while my $39 model does not. I don't throw several $100 bills around like nickels

I think Shimano is shooting themselves in the foot with so many reels in a narrow price range (Spirex, Sedona, Nexave, Sahara, Catana, Syncopate, Symetre, Sonora, Solstice to name a few) between $40 and $65 or so. Luckily I only will buy rear drag models so I'm limited... I never thought that LACK of selection would be so satisfyingly easy to live with!

For a while, I was hooked on Chronarch reels. Back then (20 + years ago), they were in the $150/$250 range. I think, after a particularly good year, I bought ONE. I was on sales commission pay, so a good year allowed for such excesses.

Then, for the next five or so years, whenever my wife and kids wanted to know what 'Ol Dad wanted for birthday or Christmas, I'd tell them to pool their money and get me another Chronarch reel. I accumulated two more fine reels using that ploy.

Twenty years later, two of the Chronarchs have been lost; one still is around but a $50.00 Lews works better, even after sending the Chronarch out to be serviced.

My spinning reels are not used all that much, but they are 25-year old Penn's, which hold up remarkedly well, considering how hard I am on equipment.

Most of my present gear would be considered "very reasonable" because I, also, am "frugal". I am hard on gear and I don't have any demanding uses. A 7-lb redfish isn't going to break any of my rods or wear out my inexpensive reels.

If I fished tournaments, I might be able to justify spending a lot of money on gear, but I don't, and I can't.

Get what makes you feel good, not what looks good. If you feel you have a better chance at catching fish with XYZ reel or rod, buy it. You only get so many chances to enjoy life to its fullest.

richg99

_________________“Busy is a choice. Stress is a choice. Joy is a choice. Choose well.”.....Ann Voskamp

Back when I was a young lad, if you had a Mitchell 300 you were cookin'. I remember my Dad taking my brother and me to get gear at a place called Western Auto. Aw, the good old days.

For years I used a Penn 740 spinning reel. Still have it. I probably should clean it up and start using it again. Might bring me luck. Haha.

Gnappi, I have an old Shimano FX2000 spin reel with rear drag. Not sure where I got it and have never used it as far as I can remember. I guess that was before they started naming all of their spinning reels with names starting with "S".

Back when I was a young lad, if you had a Mitchell 300 you were cookin'. I remember my Dad taking my brother and me to get gear at a place called Western Auto. Aw, the good old days.

For years I used a Penn 740 spinning reel. Still have it. I probably should clean it up and start using it again. Might bring me luck. Haha.

Gnappi, I have an old Shimano FX2000 spin reel with rear drag. Not sure where I got it and have never used it as far as I can remember. I guess that was before they started naming all of their spinning reels with names starting with "S".

I too started out with Mitchell 300's and just lest year I threw them out because the aluminum frames gave way. Back then the biggest problems the 300's had was rusting high carbon bail springs. My Dad was a tool and die maker and made stainless bail springs that outlasted the reels!

Waayyy back in the early 60's the Mitchell 300 was the only reel made that came for lefties like myself? IIRC it was called the 301. Those pesky bail springs had to be made custom for me, THANKS Dad! (RIP)

As far as rods go I got into building them for myself. The component parts aren't terribly expensive, and you can choose where you cut corners to save on costs so that you're cutting cosmetics and not performance.

The tooling is quite simple, you can make a hand wrapping stand for yourself out of some scrap wood as I did for very little $$$ and come up with a stand for a drying motor - all in I probably have <$30 into the cost of tooling including the drying rack motor. It's really cool the first time you use one you've made and see how it feels compared to your setups prior.

_________________I have a marriage license and a fishing license, but I only carry one in my wallet.

The way I justified spending that much was that the reel has 20lbs of drag in 3000 size - most reels that small have 10-15 lbs of drag. This makes it a more versatile inshore reel. One of my primary use cases is vertical jigging, so the light weight of a small reel with a composite frame was desirable.

I find the main advantage of higher end reels is better drags, and in the case of baitcasters, better cast control and bearings.

That said, I’m super happy with my $29 Pflueger Trion micro underspin. With 4-6 lb mono, you don’t need big drag, and what there is is pretty smooth.

You like to fish and are considering a $50 reel? I like to drive a desert car that use a transaxle. I can get a great shifter for $49 because it the same one VW bugs use. I bought a $550 Pro-Am billet shifter with real bearings in it. That thing is in my hand and used constantly while I'm doing what I love. It shifts like a rice rocket. It's my main hobby and my most used piece of gear so I bought the best and love it. Yep a $550 VW bug shifter. Save the bargains, used stuff and mediocre stuff for everything else in life. Every time I skimp and save the money piles up in the bank. In this market the interest alone makes the finest in life items practically free. Save on other items and buy yourself a real piece of gear that will be loved every time you touch the thing in life that you love. That's the real bargain.

Yep, $50 reels work remarkably well. When I need a new spinning reel I hope I can get the Pflueger President on sale for $35. I want gear that will function well and reliably so I can go fishing and have some fun. I don't need to spend $200 on a spinning reel to do that. I would derive no pleasure whatsoever from flashing around a $700 Stella, I don't care how many more ball bearings it has. Just the way I'm wired. And of course, what I'm doing is a lot different than being airborne in a dune buggy. LOL

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